Mustang Style Guitar bridge

I can’t recommend this unit highly enough. I’ve owned a made in China Fender ‘Modern Player Mustang’ for several years. It’s a surprisingly good guitar, but the trem would only stay in tune with the cigar screwed down as far as it would go. You could bend it down, like a very stiff bigsby, but even that was risky tuning wise. Most forums were just: “that’s the way it is”. Anyway, after another failed attempt at getting the original to work & it starting to make grinding, or clicking noises, I thought I’d replace it. I read that the Korean made unit is actually superior to the Japanese version- ie: closer to original ‘60’s spec- hence ordering this from NW guitars. Along with a Staytrem bridge, it’s transformed the guitar. The trem is not just usable, it’s the most stable of all my offsets now. So - Mustang vibratos CAN work!!. Huge thanks 🙏

I've found there's very little info online on aftermarket Mustang tremolos compared with the info that's readily available for Jaguars/Jazzmasters. I've bought an MIJ Mustang tremolo and this MIK tremolo, and the differences are pretty mind-blowing 🤯

WHY I BOUGHT EACH TREMOLO
I bought the Made in Japan Hosco Tremolo first for £54 (pictured on the left in all photos) then this Made in Korea Mustang Tremolo after (pictured on the right in all photos).

I bought the Hosco first because I've had good experience with the Hosco Jazzmaster tremolo (and a dealer advised me it's exactly the same as the Fender MIJ Jazzmaster/Jaguar Tremolo, just without the branding), so I assumed Fender also use the Hosco Mustang trem on all their Mexican/Japanese Mustangs too. And Hosco is the parent company of Gotoh, who are renowned for making great hardware.

The Hosco unit got lost in the post and was delivered a month late. Assuming it was lost forever, I ordered the MIK tremolo from Northwest Guitars. I was expecting the units to be identical, as I know a lot of the hardware Hosco market as "MIJ" is actually made in Korea... I thought it was plausible that Northwest Guitars are just being more honest about the country of manufacture...

The Hosco unit was eventually delivered yesterday and the Northwest Guitars MIK unit was delivered today.

MIJ UNIT
I installed the Hosco unit yesterday and, oh my word, it was bad! Tuning stability was horrible, like really, really bad. The right angle in the tremolo arm is at a weird angle so the tip of the arm is really close to the body and it doesn't give you much leverage. The grub screw to tighten the fit of the arm in the cigar comes undone AS SOON as you move the tremolo arm at all, even if you do it up really tightly! The action of the tremolo feels really unpleasant and sluggish, not at all responsive. The allen screws to adjust the cigar are SO stiff as well and screech really badly when turned. The unit it just awful. Really poor quality and really disappointing. I cannot recommend it at all.

MIK UNIT
The MIK Northwest Guitars unit arrived today and, as mentioned, I was expecting it to be exactly the same - but thankfully it's not! Every component is different, the action of the unit feels really nice and it's very responsive, the tuning stability is great, the cigar adjusts easily, the arm is very comfortable in the hand and usable... Night and day difference! And £14 cheaper! If anyone's looking for a decent Mustang tremolo, I can highly recommend this unit!

COMPARISON
Aside from the horrible performance of the Hosco unit, and very pleasing performance of the Northwest Guitars one, the units are very different.

1. Materials - You can see the metals of the 2 units is different, particularly noticeable on the springs. The MIJ Hosco unit is a more sepia kind of colour and the MIK Northwest unit is more chrome

2. Springs - Staying on the theme of the springs, you can see the MIJ Hosco unit has a thinner, shorter spring and the MIK Northwest unit has a fatter, longer spring.

3. Factory Setup - The MIJ Hosco unit came with the springs on the highest tension rung of the cigar posts, and the MIK Northwest unit came with them on the middle rung.

4. Practicality - The MIJ Hosco unit's arm tension grub screw comes immediately undone with any rotation of the arm and the arm flops around uselessly. The MIK Northwest unit isn't 100% perfect in this regard but is far more satisfactory; the grub screw eventually does become a little looser over time, but nowhere near as bad as the MIJ, and I think a little thread lock will solve this.

5. Arm - There's lots of differences in the arms. The MIJ one points downwards, has a pretty underwhelming bend/kink in it, has a bevelled end/bottom, and obviously a white tip. The MIK Northwest unit rises beautifully into the palm of the hand, has a nice vintage style bend/kink in the arm, is rounded at the end, and has a black tip.

6. Screws - This is the only area where the MIJ is better! Higher quality looking metal, fatter screws, just nicer all over.

7. The MIK tremolo has sharpened pivot points in the plate, like USA/Vintage Mustang tremolos (I suggest you sand these smooth as they're a little rough); the MIJ tremolo does not.

8. The MIK is pre-lubricated on the pivot points, whereas the MIJ is TOTALLY DRY. No wonder the MIJ felt so horrible and went out of tune so badly!

9. Weirdly, the bridge posts tighten/loosen in opposite directions on the 2 trems.

So I hope it's useful. There's so little information out there about different Mustang Tremolos - I wouldn't trust a cheap MIC one and wouldn't recommend the MIJ, but this MIK is very good. I don't know who makes it, possibly the same manufacturer that makes the Fender Classic Player Jaguar/Jazzmaster tremolo, which is also great and better than the AVRI and MIJ in my direct experience of comparing all three.